DA declines to file charges against local teacher

The district attorney’s office has declined to file charges against a Bartlesville Public School District teacher on charges stemming from the alleged bruising of her 3-year-old child during a spanking, despite a ruling Wednesday by a local judge that there was probable cause for the woman’s arrest.

Katie Elizabeth VanZant, 31, was arrested Tuesday after workers at a local daycare notified authorities of a possible child abuse. On Wednesday, Special Judge Kyra Franks Williams found probable cause for the arrest. However, the district attorney’s office announced Thursday that no charges would be filed in the case.

In legal terms, “probable cause” is the standard by which law enforcement has the grounds to make an arrest, when criminal charges are being considered.

“We are declining to file charges on Mrs. VanZant,” District Attorney Kevin Buchanan said when contacted by the Examiner-Enterprise on Friday. “The situation has been handled satisfactorily by other means and if it doesn’t work out we will have the opportunity to file charges in the future.”

When asked about the finding of probable cause and whether there were problems with the investigation, which was conducted by the Bartlesville Police Department, Buchanan answered, “No.”

“Child welfare is involved and we can’t talk about what they are working on and what they are doing,” said Buchanan. “They were involved in the beginning and they are still involved.”

VanZant, a gifted and talented teacher at Hoover Elementary School, was arrested after a local daycare alerted authorities this week of bruising on the child’s buttocks.

According to a probable cause affidavit filed in the case, police were informed by daycare workers that a 3-year-old had “severe bruising on his buttocks and that it was definitely child abuse.”

Police say the child had “several bruises” on his buttocks that were shaped like a hand.

When contacted on Thursday, school officials said VanZant is not currently teaching and that the matter had been referred to the district’s legal and personnel departments. On Friday, information available to the public on the district’s website shows VanZant listed as a teacher at Hoover Elementary School.